Practice Makes Imperfect
by ReadingAddictWeirdo
Summary: His smile was wide and tempting and sultry all at once that Carlos could immediately tell what he was up to. But he decided to ask anyway, "And what is this idea of yours?" James/Carlos.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Big Time Rush.

**Warning: **Contains slash, smut. James/Carlos. (Italics = Flashback)

**Practice Makes Imperfect**

There was a piercing noise; a very unpleasant sound that no human ear could endure. With every second that passed it kept surpassing each known pitch in a way that wasn't even tolerable. Unfortunately, it didn't soften, and only gained and lost volume sporadically. It was as if a person was screaming while running up and down many steep hills with a thousand needles stuck to the sensitive areas of their body. Except, that wasn't happening at all, and it only made the sound and its cause much, _much_ worse. Carlos Garcia was trying to sing with that multi-pitched voice of his, but, sadly, was unintentionally shattering the harmonic chorus that was resonating from his best friends instead.

He stopped abruptly, face turning a light red as he realized what was coming out of his mouth. Carlos bowed his head as his friends looked down at him with disappointed looks, whereas Kelly and Gustavo were just as shocked as a deer in headlights. That wasn't the whole reason behind their expressions, though. Before they transferred to singing, they had been practicing their dancing—and that was another thing that Carlos had failed at. Figuring they weren't going to go anywhere, since even _one_ move from the raven was enough to mess up the other boys' moves, too, Gustavo had decided on something easier: using their lyrical voices. Regrettably, that didn't make matters better.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" questioned Gustavo through the microphone. "No, wait. That came out wrong—there's _always_ something wrong with you. What I meant was what is it that is wrong with you _today?_" Carlos didn't answer, eyes shifting everywhere as he twiddled his thumbs. "What was that?" shouted Gustavo, "I don't hear an answer."

"Gustavo, chill out. He's probably just nervous," said Kendall. "Right, Carlos?"

The raven shook his head, causing for Kendall's lips to curve down into a tiny, confused frown.

"Does your throat hurt?" asked Logan. "It could be your tonsils are swollen. I have no rational explanation for your quirky dancing, though."

James, listening to all this, pulled Carlos close to him from behind, burying his chin in the crook of his neck. Carlos blushed lightly at this; James just grinned. He cooed, "Oh, my little Carlitos has tonsil problems. What can I do to make you feel better? I could tuck you in bed when we get home. Or I could give you a nice, warm, bubble bath, and–"

"I don't have tonsil problems, James," retorted Carlos as he tugged on the taller boy's arms; but to no avail, he was trapped. James' hold only got tighter, and so Carlos gave up. He let out a gloomy sigh. "I don't know what's wrong. I try to sing good–"

"Well," corrected Logan.

"–but I can't! My voice, m-my singing voice—it's just weird! I don't know what's going on with my dancing either. My legs move by themselves. I mean, I _swear_ I try to stay in rhythm, but I…I can't. I don't know how to explain it…"

James, still holding Carlos close to his chest, said, "Well, you _have_ always had a problem with trying to keep yourself together."

Carlos craned his neck back to glare at the taller boy. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"He means you're inept," explained Logan. Carlos looked at him, perplexed. "Maladroit." Carlos kept staring at him. "Clumsy."

"Oh." Carlos bit his lip.

Suddenly, James began mouthing at his neck as he mumbled things like 'My poor baby', 'Don't be sad, Carlitos', and 'It's all going to be alright'.

Just then, the door opened and in Kelly came. She was carrying an unfamiliar white box, which she tossed to Carlos, the boy catching it clumsily. He heard the snicker that slid out James' lips, but ignored it. Now holding the odd item, Kendall and Logan huddled closer to him, and James looked over his shoulder, all wondering the same thing: what _is_ that. Carlos turned the contraption slowly in his hands. It was pretty small, pocket sized, but all the buttons and text that it held plus the small, blank LCD screen was enough to make his mind dizzy with confusion.

Noticing their confounded expressions, Kelly smiled a little before she answered their mental questions, "It's an electric metronome. It has a tuner. Take it home so you can tune yourself and practice on your vocals. You can also use the 'tempo' button to help you with your dancing." She showed them how it worked, and after she was done Gustavo sent them home—since there was no point in practicing if one band member was already on the verge of being in ruins.

**ooo**

Once they came home, they were asked by Mrs. Knight why they had come so early; after she was told, the boys dispersed. James grabbed Carlos' hand, and led him into their room.

"I'm gonna take a shower," he said. "I'll help you when I'm done, okay?"

Carlos nodded. While James cleaned up, he decided to get the metronome ready. Only, he forgot how to work the thing. Sticking his tongue out, he fumbled with the contraption, looking for some sort of switch that would turn it on. After searching for nearly two minutes, he finally found the power button. Of course, it was on the very front with the word 'POWER' under it—it just _had_ to be in the most obvious place. Pushing away the annoyed feeling, Carlos pressed it and the screen lit up. He then found another button that had the word 'TUNER' under it, and pressed it with slight hesitation. The screen changed instantly, and showed some type of meter-like image with a slender yet bold needle.

Taking a big, nervous breath, he parted his lips, and sang out a note. The needle slid to the middle, indicating that the note was perfectly in tune, but then his voice rolled and stumbled, and the needle started to sway from left to right and right to left in a crazy-fast speed. Taking in the picture, Carlos clamped his mouth shut, causing for the needle to stand still and return to its original place. He tried this a few more times, and soon enough eight minutes had passed. The bathroom door flung open, steam blowing out. James walked out, a towel wrapped around his waist whilst small droplets of water dripped down his body. Carlos licked his lips subconsciously.

Noticing this, James gave him a smug smile as he pulled out of a pair of clean boxers from his drawer. "What are you doing, Carlitos?"

Carlos stared down at the metronome angrily. "This stupid thing doesn't work. The needle thingy keeps going in random directions." And while he was talking, it did exactly that. Carlos went slightly red in shocked anger.

"Why don't you work on your moves instead?"

And while _James_ was talking, the needle had slid to the middle. Perfectly in pitch. Carlos felt kind of jealous, but he pushed the feeling down. "Can you help me now?" he asked quietly.

"Sure." James, all dressed up in a pair of boxers and a white T-shirt, grabbed the metronome and stared at it for a while. Raising his head, he looked at the raven sheepishly. "How do you work this thing again?"

Carlos facepalmed. "Logan!" he called out.

Half a minute later, the said boy poked his head in with a raised eyebrow. "What's up?"

"The metronome's broken," said Carlos with a slight pout.

Rolling his eyes, Logan took the contraption from James, and began pressing buttons. After he was done, he turned it around and held it up for the couple to see. He pointed at the small screen. "The left side is tuning. The right side is tempo." He pressed another button, one that had 'MUTE' under it, and a steady beeping noise came to life, startling the learning pair. "This way you can practice on your singing _and_ dancing at the same time. If you want a different tempo, just press this button here. This one over here is for the types of notes. Such as—let's say if you want to work with quarter notes, or eight or triplets." He demonstrated by pressing the 'BEAT' button, and changing the single beat to a double, then a triple, then set it back to a single beat. Then he pressed the tempo button, the regular single beat going from a snail-like speed to an obnoxiously fast one, then back to a regular tempo. He tossed it to Carlos, muttered a 'Good luck' and left the room, closing the room behind him.

James looked at Carlos. "So, you wanna start?"

"Not really." Carlos let out a frustrated sigh as he handed the metronome to James for him to control, knowing exactly what kind of disaster was going to happen in the next few hours.

"Ready?"

He put on a straight face, a thin façade that obscured his dull expression, and mumbled an uncharacterized, "Ready."

It wasn't until Carlos had finally mastered a sequence of balanced side, back, forth and crisscrossed steps at a tempo of ninety-six that James got rid of the metronome and attacked the raven with kisses.

The next day, upon arriving at the studio, Gustavo gave Carlos a pop-quiz. He was to dance and sing, then combine those two to see if Kelly's metronome idea had really worked. So Carlos went on and nodded like a scared animal. Halfway through the improvised dance, Gustavo screamed at him. So he sang. More smoke came out of the portly man's ears. So he danced _and_ sang. Gustavo was almost to the point of exploding on Carlos like an atomic bomb. In the end, after what seemed forever—which really were a few minutes—Carlos was ordered back home, only having Kendall, Logan and James stay. Gustavo figured they weren't about to miss practice because of only one 'crippled dog'. But after seeing Carlos' dejected face, James offered himself to accompany the boy and help him get in shape. That alone made Gustavo as enraged as an erupting volcano; nonetheless, Kelly managed to calm him down, and the pair left unharmed.

When they entered 2J, they found Katie watching television. Mrs. Knight was missing from view. Both boys looked around, and asked barely in synchronization, "Where's Mrs. Knight?"

Katie lowered the volume on the television, and answered, "She's gone crazy."

"What?" Both boys' eyes went big and round.

"Apparently, mom's allergic to the sound of that thing you guys were playing with yesterday."

"The metronome?" questioned James.

"Yeah." That said, she noticed that Carlos was carrying _it_. "You better hope she doesn't come in while that thing is on. Or else she's going to slash someone."

Carlos gulped before he asked, "Where is she?"

Katie said, "At the store. Buying Super Plugs."

"The ones that block out any kind of sound?" said James. Katie nodded. He looked at Carlos for a second with a relieved smile, then back at Katie. "I guess we won't have to worry, 'cause we're going to practice right now."

"I'm gone, then," said Katie as she rose from the couch.

"Why?" asked Carlos as he pressed the power button on the metronome to make sure the batteries were still alive; the familiar beep immediately resonated in the room. Katie cringed at the sound, and Carlos, noticing this, turned the metronome off and set it on the coffee table.

"I can see why my mom went crazy," she said, as she rubbed her ears, moaning at the pain the high-pitched sound had caused. "I'll be at the pool if you need me…"

Once she left, James turned off the television. "I guess we can practice here. It's bigger." He moved the coffee table out of the way, giving them more space to work in front of the couch in case Carlos tripped and fell. Which James considered would, at least, happen ten times or more. Suddenly, he heard a fuzzy mumble. "What?" He turned around to face Carlos. The boy mumbled again, James straining his hearing to understand what he was saying; but the words were said in such a low volume, they still sounded incoherent in his ears. "What…?"

"Maybe you should've stayed with Logan and Kendall…"

"What? Why?" James was extremely surprised.

Carlos bit his lip, as if he was hesitant about what he wanted to say. "Well…yesterday, I didn't even make any progress because you decided to cut midway."

James remembered when he'd thrown the metronome across the room and jumped Carlos. He couldn't help himself. The boy just sounded and looked so goddamn adorable when he was singing those twisted notes—which sounded more like broken moans—and tripping all over the place. He stared at Carlos apologetically, lucky that the raven hadn't decided to blurt out, 'So it's your fault that Gustavo sent me home! I hate you, James!' Now _that_ would've broken James' heart—'_I hate you_'; even if it was just impulsive. He brought his hands up, palms erect, as if in defeat. "Okay. I promise I won't."

"Won't what?" pressed Carlos as he crossed his arms over his chest.

At that point, James just wanted to straight out and pounce, loving the way Carlos' eyebrows were furrowing and his lips were slightly puckered in a childish frown; but he fought the desire and said instead, "I promise I won't interrupt practice with another one of my spontaneous attacks of romance."

"Pinky promise," said Carlos as he stuck his left pinky out.

James smirked. "How about a kissy promise?" Before the raven could react, James gave him a quick kiss to the lips. When he pulled away, Carlos was not amused.

"I thought you said you weren't go–"

"Starting now," said James quickly as he ruffled his love's hair.

Carlos stared up at him doubtfully, silently saying with those narrowed eyes 'I don't believe you for one second'. The brunette only continued his affectionate act of messing up the smaller boy's hair, at which he stopped when Carlos began to deadpan. Not wanting to drive the boy into a further state of annoyance, James grabbed the metronome from the coffee table. They settled on dance practice first. It took a lot of tries for Carlos to remember and fix the steps they'd worked on yesterday. And when they were almost good enough, they moved to something more advanced. James turned the tempo up, and showed Carlos a few moves. After witnessing the dance about three times, Carlos tried it himself. Sadly, his hips wouldn't move to the beat, and James watched the hopeless boy imitate the dance with rigid steps and low grunts of irritation. There was a time when Carlos tripped on his own foot, and almost broke his nose. He had trouble standing upright, letting out mewls full of agony. While he was wallowing in his pain, he felt arms wrap around his waist from behind. Carlos froze.

"James–"

"I'm not breaking the promise; just trying to help you get into rhythm."

Carlos made a noise of disapproval, but the taller boy just smiled against his shoulder—but that was just it. He did nothing else. "You're not moving," said Carlos.

"I like holding you close to me. Is that a problem?" whispered James.

Carlos blushed red. "H-how about we switch to vocals now?"

He pried the tall boy's arms off him, and began looking for the metronome, finding it seconds later back on the coffee table. The screen Logan had put on the metronome was still there, so all he had to do was mute it. He picked it up, and held it up to James' face. The tall boy rolled his eyes, and sang a note—it was in perfect pitch. Carlos crinkled his nose, the envy coming back, but went on and echoed the note. It came out sounding like a cry from a monkey that just twisted its arm.

Carlos scowled. "This is never going to work."

"Don't give up," said James. He took the metronome, stared at it as he rotated it in his hands, then looked at Carlos with one of those 'I've got a wicked idea' smiles.

Carlos blinked thrice, and scowled again. "What are you thinking about?"

"I've got an idea on how we can practice. Well, practice _better_."

His smile was wide and tempting and sultry all at once that Carlos could immediately tell what he was up to. But he decided to ask anyway, "And what is this idea of yours?"

Placing the metronome on the couch, James answered him with a passionate kiss. He pushed Carlos onto the coffee table, and slid a hand under his shirt. Eight seconds later, James' lips were nipping and kissing at the raven's neck.

"You're breaking the promise," whined Carlos.

Lifting his head, James looked at the Latino with a cocky smile. "Yeah, but it's worth it."

Carlos could have resisted—kicked James between the legs for example—but his boyfriend's lips just felt too good on his neck. So, instead, Carlos muttered, "So. What exactly does doing me have anything to do with your idea of helping me improve with my singing and dancing?"

James mumbled something that sounded like 'You'll see'. He did a quick movement of rubbing himself against Carlos—making the boy moan—while he gently bit on his Adam's apple before he peeled himself away. He looked down at Carlos for a second—the boy's face was crimson, short breaths escaping his swollen lips. James smirked lustfully. "Alright, Carlitos. Here's how our practice is going to go today." He sat on the couch and snatched up the metronome, hitting the mute button; the fast-paced beat blared out. He set it to a tempo of fifty four, a slow speed. He looked back at Carlos, who was sitting up on the table now. "Walk towards me at this speed. No trips, no stumbles, no falls." Carlos just stared at him, flustered; James, in effect, chuckled and continued, "And if you get it right the first time, I'll reward you with something so good."

Carlos liked hearing that. _So good_. It made him bite his lip in want, and when his feet touched the ground he lost his balance and fell face-flat on the floor. He quickly stood up, looking utterly devastated.

"I'll give you a second chance," said James, finding it hard to resist Carlos when that cute, relieved look crossed his face.

Oh so slowly and very carefully, the small boy took the most intense steps of his life. He was three steps away from James, and just wanted to collapse on him, but he suppressed the urge and finished his walk. James smiled genuinely, murmured a 'Good job', and sat the small boy roughly on his lap. He gave him the ensured reward, which was a mere kiss; a light one, at that. Once the warmth of James' mouth was gone, Carlos stared him down.

"I still have no idea of what you're trying to do here, James."

"Do you want to be able to sing and dance again?"

"Yes…"

"Then just follow my lead," said the brunette seductively.

"Fine, fine… What now?"

James set the metronome's tempo slightly faster. "You're going to bob your head at this speed."

"What?"

"While sucking my cock," finished James.

Carlos' eyes went round and big. "_What?_" He was hot all over.

James grinned, every white tooth showing. "It's not like we haven't done this before."

"I-I know, b-but–"

"Are you embarrassed that a small beat is going to control you?" Carlos didn't respond. James said sweetly, "There's no need to be embarrassed. We're the only ones here, right?" Carlos' face went cherry red. James grinned wider. "Of course. Else it would be awkward."

"But it is," mumbled Carlos.

Ignoring him, James resumed in that syrupy voice, "I guarantee you it'll help you so much with your rhythm."

"Uh-huh…" Carlos couldn't resist sounding sarcastic, seeming as James was being totally preposterous.

But in the end, he obliged because he was too turned on now to go back to a _normal_ practice. Damn James' odd yet kinky ideas. Jumping off of the brunette's lap, he got down on his knees, looking up at James with the biggest pair of brown eyes ever. He smirked inwardly when a muffled whimper tumbled out of James' lips and his hand scrambled to obtain the metronome again, setting it to a splendidly faster tempo. Ever so slowly, Carlos unbuttoned and unzipped his boyfriend's jeans, and brought them down to his ankles. Then he slid down the dark red boxers that were concealing the greedy shaft. When it bobbed out, it bumped against the raven's nose. Carlos smiled slyly at that, and settled his lips around the head of it. From the corner of his eye, he saw that James was stretching his hand out, about to bury his fingers in his jet-black hair. But before they could make contact with even the slightest onyx spike, Carlos slapped the hand away. He pulled away, making James groan.

"I thought you said you wanted me to be in rhythm," he said angelically.

James could only stay quiet, a nervous yet embarrassed expression on his face. Carlos grinned mockingly, and took the head back in his mouth. And as he swallowed bit by bit until the head was touching the back of his throat, James did not speed up the tempo nor slow it down. So Carlos listened and bobbed his head to the beat before he felt his boyfriend's cock twitch erratically in his mouth. He withdrew before James could come, and pressed on the slit of the head with his thumb.

James moaned. "What are you doing?"

"You're not going to come without me, Jamie. That's unromantic," said Carlos in the most child-like voice he could muster.

And it sounded pretty darn cute if James said so himself. But cute was out of the question right now. He wanted to see Carlos sweaty and lewd, and hear that dangerously arousing broken voice of his. Licking his lips, he stripped himself off all his clothes, Carlos doing the same as soon as he saw James slip out of his shirt. When he was done, he felt big hands grab onto his hips. Seconds later, he was pinned to the couch by James' bare body. Carlos let out a squeak of surprise, which only made the brunette smile devilishly.

"Okay, Carlos, here's how this next part works. I'm going to stretch that little hole of yours while you make those broken moans of yours. Let's see how flat or sharp they are."

He pressed the mute button on the metronome, and lightly placed it on Carlos' stomach. The raven blushed when he felt the cool plastic touch his skin. He propped himself up on his elbows as James spread his legs. Carlos gulped at the utter awkwardness—because, really, it was just weird when your love _requested_ for you to moan. It was way different than 'wanted'. But when James coated a finger with his saliva, circled his puckered entranced and immediately probed Carlos' sweet spot, Carlos didn't need to force out the erotic sound. It came naturally—and brokenly. His face went a light shade of red and he almost shut his mouth, but another jab to his spot made him moan again. Adding another finger, James looked down at the metronome; the needle was sliding wildly from left to right. He smiled to himself as he thrust the two fingers in and out. Every time Carlos let out a gasp of pleasure, the needle would go to the right, indicating he was utterly sharp, and then settle back to the left. Giving one last prod, James took his fingers out.

"Think you're ready for the last part?"

Carlos was breathing normally now, and answered in a low, scratchy voice, "Maybe."

"Tease," hissed James. "I'll take that as a yes."

"What do I do?"

James chuckled at the boy's eagerness. "You're going to ride me. At this tempo." He said all this so easily. Metronome still resting on the Latino's tummy, James unmuted it, and set it to a slow tempo. "Then when I think you're ready—if you have a good rhythm throughout—I'll speed it up." It was torture for him. He wished Carlos would just freak out and beg him to please let him go faster—because it was mostly James who wanted that—but the raven didn't, and instead nodded in slight excitement. Pushing away the thought, the brunette cleared his throat; though before he could speak, Carlos made a sound that made James' words get stuck in his throat. "What's wrong?"

Carlos placed the metronome on the couch, and sat up, crossing his legs Indian style. "Can, uh, can we use…"

"Lube?"

"Y-yes… Sorry…"

James smiled warmly. "S'right. I know how sensitive you are down there. Stay there; I'll be right back." A minute later, after searching everywhere in their shared room, James finally found the small, clear bottle hiding in one of his tennis shoes. He returned to the living room, and plopped on the couch next to Carlos. "Wanna help me?" Popping off the cap of the bottle, he squirted a fair amount of lubricant on his hand.

"I'd rather watch you do it yourself," said Carlos.

James raised his eyebrows. "Dirty boy."

He slicked his dick with the cold substance; once he was done, Carlos crawled over to him, and sat on his lap, back facing the television. He lifted his hips a little, and James helped by finding his hole and slowly burying his cock within it.

"This is kind of weird," grumbled Carlos after he got accustomed to the intrusion.

"What's weird?"

"You know… The metronome thing." Carlos pointed at the contraption on the sofa with his eyes.

James blinked. He brought his face close to Carlos', and said in the most casual voice, "All you have to do is move with it."

And so, after blushing a thousand shades of red from the obviousness of the statement, Carlos did. The tempo was so slow that all he had to do was shift his hips slightly. He stumbled a few beats in the middle, but managed to recuperate his rhythm. Along the way when the speed of the beat had increased and Carlos was rolling his hips a bit faster, cries and moans and whimpers were echoing all over the living room. James could have said something—that Carlos still sounded broken as ever—but he was stuck in the clouds of pleasure to help the boy straighten out his voice. He moaned, and pressed his lips to the Latino's as his hands slithered up his waist, chest, and thumbed the soft, pink nipples. Carlos whined into the kiss, which James happily swallowed.

While James' hands and mouth were still roaming all over his body, Carlos' hands started to blindly search for the metronome. He tapped the sofa as he tried to keep his hips in rhythm. Finally, he felt the cool plastic of the beating machine, and pressed the button that he was pretty sure was 'TEMPO'. Almost instantly, the speed increased by twenty, and Carlos smiled inwardly at his accomplishment. But his smile faded when he felt James' hands leave his body for a fleeting second, and then settle on his hips, ceasing their momentum. Carlos let out a sharp gasp at the abrupt stop, since it made the brunette's member press up against his spot harshly. Once the euphoric feeling settled down, he opened his heavy-lidded eyes and found James eyeing him with a raised eyebrow.

Seeming as the curious look wouldn't leave his face, Carlos muttered a coy 'What'. James said in a mocking tone, "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

"I thought we were going too slow…" mumbled Carlos nervously.

James felt the twitch in his fingers, wanting to grab the boy and fuck him silly because of what he just said. He was right, and James also thought they were going too slow. Instead, he said, "Oh, you _thought?_" He grabbed Carlos' arm, and flipped their positions, now having a shocked Latino under him. James smirked, and set the tempo even faster than what Carlos had wanted for. He leaned down and whispered in his ear, "Well, how about now?" And once he said that he dug his fingernails into the skin of the small boy's hips, and started to pound into him like he wanted to that first day (well, yesterday) when Carlos tried to do a sidestep, and had tripped—tripped on James. Though the brunette still questioned in his mind if Carlos' hand had really rubbed against his crotch by a_ccident_. Carlos had shaken his head, denying it; he'd said that the action had been totally by coincidence, but James had still given him the eye. James' upper teeth dug into his bottom lip as he felt his boyfriend's walls tighten around his dick. "Is _this_ fast enough for you, Carlos?" he questioned with a hard grunt.

"Too hard, James," gasped Carlos. "It hur–"

"But isn't this what you wanted?" said James, addressing Carlos and himself. He was actually going faster than the metronome, and with one swipe of the hand he threw it off the couch. It landed on the ground with a thick thump. The beeping ceased and all that could be heard now was the lovemaking noises the couple was making.

"Jamie!" Carlos emitted in the form of a strangled squeal. He was bucking his hips erratically, attempting to get more of James' cock inside him. "J-Jame– Jamie– James!" he shouted as he felt a tense knot form in his stomach; in a split second, it loosened and burst. He dropped his hips, making James groan, and let out a heavy amount of broken moans as he wrapped his hand around his dick, pumping it, and spilled white all over himself and his boyfriend. "James…" Carlos, between the fading high-like feeling of his post-orgasm and the fact that James started to thrust into him faster and harder, was panting heavily, trying to get his breath back.

"But…I need to…come, too, Carlitos…" said James, who was also out of breath.

The same knot that had Carlos going crazy just a few seconds ago suddenly shaped itself within James. He fought to stay in control, but the building tingly feeling continued without any hint that it was going to dull out. "Carlos!" shouted James as he came inside him.

Carlos felt the hot, viscous liquid fill him. When the last drops trickled out, James pulled out slowly, fervently watching as the rest of the pale fluid slothfully leaked out of the small boy's loose hole. James let out a shuddering breath, was about to sit up, but was pulled down until his lips collided with Carlos' in a passionate kiss. James let out a moan as Carlos emitted one of his broken, erotic noises. As soon as they felt that last little spiral of breath decay from their lungs, they pulled away from each other. Little, irregular pants were slipping out of their lips.

"So," said James, voice filled exhaustion, "what'd you think of practice?"

Carlos sighed—which made James uneasy for a second—but then grinned tiredly. "Loved it. It helped so much," he answered softly as he encircled his arms around his love's neck, and gave him another breath-taking kiss.

The next day came quickly as if yesterday hadn't even existed at all. It was Saturday, and so the boys were already at the studio at an unusually early hour: two p.m.

"Alright, Carlos," said Kelly with a confident smile, "show us what you got."

The raven gulped.

He danced.

He sang.

He danced and sang.

By the time he was finished, everyone's mouth was slightly agape; except for James and Gustavo's.

Carlos hiccupped as he hit the last note. "Oops." He let the silence overwhelm them first before he shyly grinned with blushing cheeks. "Guess I still need some more practice?" Without any warning, he grabbed James' hand, and dragged him out of the studio, leaving Gustavo's screams behind.

"You little schemer," said James. Carlos stopped, and looked up at the brunette with a guilty face. James smiled then, and crouched down to the small boy's level. "But that's what I love about you." He quickly kissed Carlos, and took his hand. "Now, c'mon. We gotta get started on 'practice'," he said, winking on the last word.

**ooo**

Upon arriving at 2J's hallway, Carlos clung to James' arm with metronome in hand. James reached for the doorknob, and opened the door. Carlos, already excited, was about to turn on the metronome when he noticed Mrs. Knight sitting casually on the couch, her head turning to look at them. They were about to say 'hi', but the woman seemed to be staring at something else. And that's when Carlos realized that the metronome was on—and Mrs. Knight's eye was twitching. There was the continuing beat, except it was accompanied by a spooky echo that drifted between the frightened couple and the mother.

They instantly recalled Katie's words: _"__Apparently, mom's allergic to the sound of that thing you guys were playing with yesterday," _and, _"You better hope she doesn't come in while that thing is on. Or else she's going to slash someone."_

Slash someone. Slash _them_.

James gulped, and said in a scared, high-pitched voice, "You know what, Carlos? I-I think we should practice s-somewhere else." And before the raven could have time to agree, James yanked on his hand, and they fled the apartment. All the while, the metronome had slipped from Carlos' hand as the front door slammed shut.

Mrs. Knight blinked. She rubbed her eyes, seeming as a bit of cold air had stung her eye, which had caused the twitching. "Boys?" Rising from the couch, she took out the Super Plugs from her ears. Bending down, she picked up the metronome and turned it off.

Just then, Katie strolled into the living room. She froze when she saw her mother with the silent machine.

Mrs. Knight immediately took in the expression, recognizing it easily. She crossed her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow. "Explain."

Katie rubbed the back of her neck, giving her mother an abashed half-grin. "I…I _might_ have kind of exaggerated a little that you went crazy over the sound of that thing so _I_ won't have to hear it… Sorry, mom, but that constant beep drives _me_ crazy."

Mrs. Knight sighed. "Good thing I bought an extra pair. I thought you might need some from the look you had on yesterday. You looked so scary." She chuckled as she made her way into the kitchen, seconds later coming out with a small box in her other hand. "Here."

"Thanks, mom," said Katie, smiling as she took the box. Inside were a pair of yellow Super Plugs.

"You're welcome. Now, go tell them they can come in."

Katie grinned sheepishly as she gripped the box. She opened the front door, poked her head out, and found James and Carlos sitting against the wall, rocking with fear in each other's arms. "Um…guys, my mom says you can prac–"

"No! No! We can't! C-can't…" They shook their heads frantically, eyes going wide.

"She's not going to–"

Carlos let out a whine, and buried his face in James' chest. "Jamie, I'm scared. The look…the look! It was s-so scary! She's going to kill us!"

"I-it's okay, Carlos. We're safe here…" whimpered James as he sobbed in Carlos' hair.

Katie pursed her lips, and closed the door silently. "Mom."

"Are they going to come in?"

Katie bit her lip, trying not laugh at the scene she had just encountered. "Nope. They've gone to loopy land."

Eventually, when Kendall and Logan were released from Gustavo's hold of terror, they came home and found James and Carlos in the exact same position Katie had seen them in earlier.

"What happened to _them?_" they asked at the same time once they entered the apartment.

Mrs. Knight and Katie were sitting on the dining table, eating lunch. However, they didn't seem to have heard the boys' question, because they continued chewing their food contentedly. In effect, they asked again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

"Oh, god…" said Logan. "Something's wrong… Something's wrong. They've all gone nuts!" he yelled as he ran out.

Kendall facepalmed. "Mom? Katie?" he said. The two had seemed to have heard these calls because they put their forks down, and took out the coloured ear plugs from their ears. Kendall raised his eyebrows, recognizing the product. "Super Plugs?" he asked, puzzled as to why they would need them.

"Metronome madness," replied Katie and Mrs. Knight.

"Oh," was all he could say, nodding slowly, before he went back to the hallway, hoping to get his friends back to normal. When he stepped out, he found Logan shaking James and Carlos madly, pleading them to snap out of it and come back in, the couple responding with horrified shrieks of 'no' and vigorous head shaking. He sighed. "I'm guessing Carlos hasn't found out what his problem is… That's it. That metronome's going back into Kelly's hands first thing tomorrow."

At those words, James and Carlos could've jumped the blonde and protested, but they were too busy wallowing in their terrified thoughts that Mrs. Knight was going to come out of the door any second now with a psychotic grin plastered on her face and a bloody ax in her hands.


End file.
